Olympia

Gorgon City’s third album Olympia sees north London producers Kye Gibbon and Matt Robson-Scott take their house, garage and electronic pop to bolder places. “A lot of this was inspired by the really big festival shows we were doing,” Robson-Scott tells Apple Music. “It’s similar to what we did on the first album in that we’re taking our inspiration from underground club music but wanting to combine that with big, epic songwriting.” With Gibbon now residing in Chicago, the birthplace of house music, and Robson-Scott still in London, the duo got used to doing lots of their work online and through video calls. “It actually worked out all right though,” says Robson-Scott. “We were in different time zones so often Kye would have worked on something when I’d been asleep and I’d pick up where he left off like a relay race.” Leaning into nostalgia for formative club experiences, both on the dancefloor and in the booth, the album shifts from the evocative piano house stabs of opener “Tell Me It’s True” to the warm embrace of “You’ve Done Enough” with Chicago duo DRAMA, through to the bass house tones of inadvertent lockdown anthem “House Arrest.” “We were playing some of the biggest shows we’d done just before making this album,” says Gibbon. “We really wanted to make music that worked on that big stage.” This is slick and sophisticated house music that demands to be heard loud. We caught up with the pair to talk through eight key tracks from the album.
. Tell Me It’s True Matt Robson-Scott: “We really wanted a bold introduction to the album and this is just that. The haunting vocal stabs and there’s the big suspense before the piano comes in. It feels like a great track to start a set with and that was the kind of vibe we wanted to set for the album.”
You’ve Done Enough (with DRAMA) Kye Gibbon: “We’ve done two tracks with DRAMA, this and obviously the single ‘Nobody.’ Matt recorded some of this in Australia a few years back but we basically forgot about it, then eventually sent a full folder of demos to DRAMA and they really loved the chord progression on this. Once we had their amazing vocal, we changed the production completely and the finished product almost sounds nothing like the demo.” Dreams (with Jem Cooke) Robson-Scott: “This is a personal favorite. We’ve always wanted to work with Jem, she has this really euphoric and hedonistic vocal style that gives you butterflies in your stomach. She was eight months pregnant when she came to the studio to do this and I was like, ‘How are you even standing? Let alone delivering vocals like this!’” When You’re Gone Gibbon: “We made this when we were really yearning for going out and seeing people and having life back a little bit. It’s mostly an instrumental track and the vocal that is in it is a little more abstract and experimental.” House Arrest (with SOFI TUKKER) Robson-Scott: “This was a bit of a lockdown anthem but SOFI TUKKER [US electronic duo Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern] actually wrote the lyrics before the pandemic happened. Sophie broke her leg and it inspired this track. It did absolutely amazing for us and we loved working with them as they’re in a bit of a different world to us.” Lost Feelings Gibbon: “Rose Grey is a singer from London and I’m really proud of what she did with this song lyrically and emotionally. When we write a song with a vocalist we usually just work around a chord progression as that then allows us to take the production in whichever direction we want. The vocal is so powerful and emotional on this that we had to make the track really dramatic and over the top. It has this huge drop that really suits the vocals.” Foolproof (with Hayden James and Nat Dunn) Gibbon: “We made this in Australia in early 2019 with us all jamming in a studio but had to finish it with us all in different time zones. I think we got to version 21 before we absolutely nailed it. Hayden’s an amazing producer and really genuinely positive person and Nat is someone he’s worked with a lot before. This came out on Hayden’s label a little while back but we really wanted it on the album too.” Freedom (with Josh Barry) Robson-Scott: “Josh is obviously someone we’ve worked with a lot over the years as he was part of our live set-up and he’s a real part of the Gorgon City family. His lyrics on this track were very much influenced by Black Lives Matter and are quite deep and meaningful. He came into the studio, we played him some really stripped-back chords and he did this in one take and absolutely blew us away.”